


Last Farewell

by Mercy_Run



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Core Accident, Hints of a possible relationship between the brothers later on, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-31 00:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12121026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Run/pseuds/Mercy_Run
Summary: Sans knew not having safety rails might become a problem one day.  He just didn't know it had become 'that day' and he would be the one falling with no hope of escape.





	Last Farewell

**Author's Note:**

> Just an aborted idea of an angst-filled fic that I toyed around with and ultimately decided not to pursue. ^_^;;
> 
> NSFW Blog: mercy-run.tumblr.com

When Sans arrived at the labs today, he had been expecting work as usual. Pouring over scientific formula, maybe squeezing some programming in with Alphys, and on the very off chance; get the rare opportunity to prank his boss. Those times were few and far between as W.D. Gaster seemed to be working on more projects than usual. So, the small skeleton had seen Papyrus off to school and had taken a ‘shortcut’ to work without thinking anything of it. Everything had appeared normal, everyone acting as was typical, so Sans had no warning when he had traveled to the Core to do his rounds.

He hadn’t thought much of the lack of railing before. The walkways were plenty wide and the aura from the geothermal energy wafting up from far below already had one crossing the metal grating with caution.

Sans had absolutely no time to brace for danger when the entire Core shuddered and rocked; his arms shooting out in an attempt to steady himself, only for the walkway underneath his sneakers to fall away.

It had happened so fast…

The small monster had almost blacked out, thinking for a silly moment that perhaps he had stepped through the pitch dark to ‘shortcut’ to safety by instinct. The world around him was suddenly a lot smaller, a faint pain registering over his dazed state and the blaring of distant sirens. Peeking his eye sockets open a margin, Sans emitted a weak groan and he knew, he had fallen, he had FALLEN into the Core. He should be dead… Where…? The pain brought back some clarity and the skeleton opened his sockets half way.

The sirens were quiet over the hum of pure energy.

Should he be laughing that his short stature, something Sans was usually sensitive about, had saved him from immediate death?

Sans had fell. Not into the energy that powered the Underground. No. His smaller body had fallen into a crevice between the machinations on the lowest level. There was no other way that the skeleton would be hearing the manufactured magic so clearly…

…He needed to teleport to safety. 

Papyrus needed him!

…But Sans couldn’t move.

The white points of light that made up his eyes hazed sluggishly into existence as the monster finally took stock of his situation; the wailing of the emergency sirens barely audible. Normally there would be a polite voice over the intercom reminding anyone that may be panicking on the proper ways to exit the structure but he couldn’t hear it.

But he could still feel the trembling of the entire place from where he was. Far below the walkway…in the deepest reaches of the Core.

Head tilting towards the source of his pain, he uttered a soft moan upon finding that a metal beam had crushed part of the chamber he had slipped into, pinning his legs to the point of causing a visible fracture. He couldn’t escape…he was trapped! Eye-lights quivering and shrinking, Sans frantically began pushing at the metal; left eye sparking cyan like a shorted circuit as he tried to dislodge his femurs.

The Core rumbled, there was the shriek of giving metal high above him.

Even if Sans screamed for help, no one would hear him! He had to get free! Just enough to use his magic. He needed to get free! Leaving Papyrus alone wasn’t an option!

But the more he moved, the more it hurt. The more it became horribly and terribly real that the skeleton was truly trapped here. In a place no one could conceivably reach in time to help him.

Still… Even though his mind knew this, his soul glowed a fierce blue and began crying out for help.

No one could answer him! No one would come! He was trapped… He was trapped! His baby brother, his only light, would be left alone and never know what had happened to h-!!

In his panic, Sans almost missed it.

Underneath the hum of energy, of the structure of the Core failing… Sans’ phone was ringing. The skeleton usually left it at home, regularly forgetting it. But he hadn’t and he desperately snatched it up, pressing the answer button with all the intention of begging whoever it was for help, to save him, to stop this from happening-!

“…SANS?”

His soul lurched, in both shock and sheer relief at the sound of Papyrus’ young voice. The monster’s breath caught, choking off the sob and the pleading because… It was his precious sibling. His only family. The only one he had loved and wanted to protect. 

He must have paused too long because his brother repeated his name and this time, he caught the tremor in it. And despite his situation, Sans did what he never failed to do. 

“paps… what’s wrong?” His voice was soft and forcibly calm.

“I…I… IT WAS SILLY! I AM SORRY, BROTHER! I JUST FELT THE STRONG URGE TO CALL YOU. MY SOUL FEELS FUNNY!”

…What? Sans absently raised his free hand to press against the glow shining through his shirt. Had… That was impossible. There was no way that Papyrus could’ve felt his soul. They weren’t soul bound. Even being related didn’t have that effect. But here he was, faced with an impossibility at the worst possible moment.

Papyrus was only eight years old…

“SANS?!” There were tears in his sibling’s voice, a panic touching the words at his uncharacteristic silence. He had to make this right somehow…in the time he had left…

“sorry, bro. …hey, do you remember a few weeks ago when you caught me singing in the shower and you wanted me to sing to you instead of reading that night…but i said ‘no’?”

Papyrus paused on the other end of the line. Enough that he probably heard the hum below, but not be able to discern what was happening above.

“I- YES?”

Sans’ grimace lifted very slightly, softly, into a smile. Cyan magic pooled in his sockets.

“how about i sing for you now, papyrus?”

Though it was clear that his baby brother was confused, worried and riled by the feelings in his soul, he latched onto normalcy eagerly.

“I WOULD LIKE THAT, SANS! I TOLD YOU THAT YOUR SINGING VOICE WAS PRETTY!”

It took everything Sans had not break down. The skeleton had always loved to sing but was too self-conscious of his voice to indulge often. His brother was too cool. The monster inhaled a bit shakily and pitched his voice lower before tentatively beginning to sing to Papyrus over the hum of magic.

“you are my sunshine… my only sunshine…” His soul was glowing brightly between his phalanges, “you make me happy… when skies are grey…”

Papyrus was listening raptly. The Core trembled.

“you’ll never know, bro… how much i love you…”

Metal splashed into the geothermal magic somewhere too close for comfort.

“please don’t t-take my sunshine away…”

“SANS…?”

He couldn’t continue, magic streaming from his blackened sockets as his soul cried out for his younger brother.

“I DON’T LIKE THIS SONG.” Papyrus murmured, distressed, “IT’S TOO SAD! I-I WANT TO SEE YOU NOW! I WANT TO COME HOME!”

Please…no… Leaving his little brother wasn’t an option…

“papyrus…”

“COME GET ME, SANS!” The small skeleton was sniffling into the phone his older brother had given him, “TAKE ME HOME! I WANT YOU HERE!”

Sans reached upwards with shaking phalanges as the Core melted down around him, whispering his last affectionate words into the phone.


End file.
